When renowned scientists now talk seriously about millions of multiverses, the old question “

Mlik Sahib's insight:

"In a recent New Scientist article, cosmologist Joseph Silk reviews these and other issues now faced by the field, and then notes that such problems, probing the meaning of our very existence, are closely akin to those that have been debated by philosophers through the ages.

Thus perhaps a new dialogue between science and philosophy can bring some badly needed insights into physics and other leading-edge fields such as neurobiology. (Indeed, there is a burgeoning sub discipline of neurophilosophy.)

As Silk explains,

Drawing the line between philosophy and physics has never been easy. Perhaps it is time to stop trying. The interface is ripe for exploration.

It was one of the most tedious jobs on the internet. A team of Googlers would spend day after day staring at computer screens, scrutinizing tiny snippets of street photographs, asking themselves the same question over and over again: “Am I looking at an address or not?’ Click. Yes. Click. Yes. Click. No. This was…

"According to Nobel committee member Anne L'Huillier, the pair's work represents "the first tiny steps towards building a quantum computer".

Quantum-optics pioneer Alain Aspect of Laboratoire Charles Fabry in Paris told physicsworld.com "Observing, manipulating and controlling individual quantum systems has been a major breakthrough of the last few decades. Schrödinger doubted that it might ever be possible, but this year's laureates have done it."

The evolution of the ribosome, a large molecular structure found in the cells of all species, has been revealed in unprecedented detail in a new study.

Mlik Sahib's insight:

The common core of the ribosome is essentially the same in humans, yeast, bacteria and archaea – in all living systems. The Georgia Tech team has shown that as organisms evolve and become more complex, so do their ribosomes. Humans have the largest and most complex ribosomes. But the changes are on the surface – the heart of a human ribosome the same as in a bacterial ribosome.

"The translation system is the operating system of life," Williams said. "At its core the ribosome is the same everywhere. The ribosome is universal biology."

Harvard scientists say they’re closer to unraveling one of the most basic questions in neuroscience — how the brain encodes likes and dislikes — with the discovery of the first receptors in any species evolved to detect cadaverine and putrescine,...

I'm curious about attraction and aversion. This study investigates aversion at a very basic level. Important steps in understanding what turns us on and off.

“We don’t understand, as a field, how aversive and attractive odors are differentially processed … but identifying the receptor gives us a handle on the neural circuits that are involved. Now that we have the receptor, we can ask basic questions about aversion and attraction circuitry in general."

How much information is stored inside a human? Not as much as you think. All you need is a mere 1.5 gigabytes to fit your entire genetic code. Veritasium did the math in his latest brain tapping video and cooked up that number using bits to understand the molecules that make up a person's genetic code.

Brain stimulation used to be just a cool idea in science fiction movies, novels and other hard to believe tales when human subjects were stimulated using electrical currents and achieved near super-human feats. But now, thanks to researchers at the University of New Mexico and other collaborators, brain ...

Scientists at the Salk Institute have created a new model of memory that explains how neurons retain select memories a few hours after an event. This new framework provides a more complete picture of how memory works, which can inform research into disorders liked Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, post-traumatic stress and learning disabilities. “Previous models of memoryRead More

1) That cybernetic patterns of information provide the ultimate and best way to understand reality.

2) That people are no more than cybernetic patterns.

3) That subjective experience either doesn’t exist, or is unimportant because it is some sort of ambient or peripheral effect.

4) That what Darwin described in biology, or something like it, is in fact also the singular, superior description of all creativity and culture.

5) That qualitative as well as quantitative aspects of information systems will be accelerated by Moore’s Law.

And finally, the most dramatic:

6) That biology and physics will merge with computer science (becoming biotechnology and nanotechnology), resulting in life and the physical universe becoming mercurial; achieving the supposed nature of computer software. Furthermore, all of this will happen very soon! Since computers are improving so quickly, they will overwhelm all the other cybernetic processes, like people, and will fundamentally change the nature of what’s going on in the familiar neighborhood of Earth at some moment when a new “criticality”is achieved- maybe in about the year 2020. To be a human after that moment will be either impossible or something very different than we now can know.

After analyzing thousands of wild chimp-to-chimp gestures, University of St Andrews researchers believe that they have translated the meanings of 36 chimpanzee gestures that are used to communicate. According to the researchers, this is the first time that another animal communication system has been found to have meaning. Furthermore, this novel information may also offer an insight into the evolution of human language.

When evaluating another person’s emotions – happy, sad, angry, afraid – humans take cues from facial expressions. Neurons in a part of the brain called the amygdala “fire” in response to the visual stimulation as information is processed by the retina, the amygdala and a network of interconnected brain structures. Some of these regions respond just to the actual features of the face, whereas others respond to how things appear to the viewer, but it is unknown where in the brain this difference arises.

Mlik Sahib's insight:

"The firing of a single neuron is believed to be the basic unit of brain computation, and these studies are accomplished through the collaboration of neuroscientists and neurosurgeons, with the consent and participation of patients who undergo deep brain electrode placement for diagnostic or treatment procedures.

"Single neuron studies have been performed in animals, but conducting them in human subjects gives us an opportunity to get direct feedback, without having to make assumptions when interpreting animal responses. The amygdala is a routine target for depth electrodes to localize epileptic seizures, and this provides the opportunity to explore this structure that is vitally important in the processing of emotions," said Adam Mamelak, MD, professor of neurosurgery and director of functional neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai, one of the article's authors.

According to Ralph Adolphs, PhD, Bren professor of psychology and neuroscience at Caltech, a contributing author, "Most data relevant to understanding psychiatric illness is derived from studies that use functional magnetic resonance imaging. What we desperately need is a more microscopic level as well, and these single-unit data we can record in neurosurgical patients offer a unique study opportunity."

Rutishauser added, "Our group is focused on pursuing neurosurgical approaches that allow us to study individual neurons. We believe this research can provide valuable new knowledge on the function of the human nervous system that would otherwise be unobtainable."

Zapping an area deep in our brains turns off consciousness – suggesting this is where perceptions are bound together into a cohesive experience

Mlik Sahib's insight:

"Scientists have been probing individual regions of the brain for over a century, exploring their function by zapping them with electricity and temporarily putting them out of action. Despite this, they have never been able to turn off consciousness – until now.

Although only tested in one person, the discovery suggests that a single area – the claustrum – might be integral to combining disparate brain activity into a seamless package of thoughts, sensations and emotions. It takes us a step closer to answering a problem that has confounded scientists and philosophers for millennia – namely how our conscious awareness arises."

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